The Glass House: The spellbinding Richard and Judy pick and Sunday Times bestseller

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I’ve enjoyed both the books by Eve Chase I’ve read previously – Black Rabbit Hall and The Vanishing of Audrey Wilde (US title, The Wildling Sisters). At the same time, you can’t be left indifferent to the condition of Jeannie; a mother struck by misery and sorrow after losing her baby.

Eve Chase is the author of Black Rabbit Hall and The Wildling Sisters, and the pseudonym of journalist and novelist Polly Williams. Mies’ was, of course, primary and mine was an adoption from the master, although it’s quite a different approach. Colossal trees overhang a sweep of red-tiled roof that sags in the middle, like a snapped spine, so the chimney’s tilt at odd angles. This tale uncovers the hidden secrets of the Harrington family and how the entire game plays out over time.I have to say as well that the sections set in the past didn’t scream 1970s to me, apart that is for the cheese and piccalilli sandwiches!

Although there are no walls, Philip Johnson referred to areas within the rectangular, loft-like space as “rooms. There’s the present day story which takes you back to that of the past; the time when a body was found in the forest. She looks to him for further explanation, ’A forest map, if you like,’ he says as she opens the parcel. She can’t mentally map where they’ve been in those missing minutes, the mossy gullies they’ve skidded down – snagging their clothes and fingernails – or their winding routes back to the house. The interior is open with the space divided by low walnut cabinets; a brick cylinder contains the bathroom and is the only object to reach floor-to-ceiling.And similar to the plants in terrariums, pressed to the glass, children can be entrapped into the families in which they are born. And it becomes apparent that Rita has found herself in a rather dysfunctional family and in a house whose location she finds unsettling. Naomi Watts and Woody Harrelson were cast as Rose Mary and Rex Walls, respectively, with Gil Netter producing. I did not like this for most part, but the ending - even if it was emotionally overwrought - tied more lose ends together than I had expected.

The characters (Rita, Sylvia and Hera) are entwined so beautifully, the mystery so rich that the story unfolded naturally and without effort. Rita, Jeannie, Teddy and Hera would make the five-hour driving trip from London to the family’s country estate, a manor house located in a remote, heavily wooded location. But even amidst the general gloom of Rita’s years living in Torquay, there were a few things she like and appreciated, very much the same sentiment as the American musician Johnny Rivers must have felt when he penned the famous lyrics, “It’s hard to find nice things on the poor side of town. Net man, dviejų pasakojimų linijų ir šeimos paslapčių nemėgėjai viskas taip patiko, kad tie, kurie mėgsta šituos reikalus, turėtų alpt iš džiaugsmo skaitydami. A lovely story of the bonds between mothers and daughters, her tales always have a kind of warmth about them, I loved the beautiful Forest of Dean setting, the dual timelines, the mystery and the way all the strands came together in the end.

Add to that a mix of characters who have many problems with their mental health that weren’t recognised at the time, real trauma, and you have a fascinating story on all sides.